Unbroken
by 92Dil
Summary: Because people broken by life itself can be mended and healed but they never become Un-broken again. The scars always remain. This a story about two people who have suffered and understand suffering. Its a story about their past, their present and their new lease at life. (All the major characters will be featured eventually.)


**A.N :- I think its safe to assume that Owen Hunt and Amelia Shepherd both have the most painful and tortured past, and I for one thought it could be fun to explore that! Even just as friends if nothing else.**

**As Owen says in 10x16 "someone who has suffered and understands suffering". **

Owen is on his way to update the surgical board and nods at Meredith who is sitting at the nurses station making monosyllabic noises on the phone, holding her head in her right hand.

"uh hun"

"hmm"

"What? no! I'm totally paying attention Derek!

" ok fine I'm not but I'm just busy juggling a surgical schedule, a clinical trial and two kids alone to spare the time to listen to how great your day was!"

"No! I'm not being passive aggressive about you moving to a different state! You know what? i really don't have the time or the energy to argue with you right now!"

With that Meredith hangs up the phone and rolls her eyes at Owen when he asks her if shes okay.

"do you want to talk about it?" Owen prods, to which she sighs and replies "How dare he accuse me of being selfish when he is off living his dream while I'm here killing myself raising his kids as basically a single working mother! I'm tired! all the time! I am physically spent and emotionally drained trying to keep all the balls up in the air and i am too exhausted to cradle Derek's ego right now and i just.."

she is still in the middle of her rant when the surgical board catches her eye and she groans in frustration

" aargh and not to mention i have to find a baby sitter for tonight because Amelia just got pulled into surgery and I'm on call tonight!"

"listen why don't you take off for the night get some sleep and i can cover your shift" Owen offers

"What? No! "

"No really, I don't mind! "

"I'm not pawning off my shift to you to go be a house wife, this is my job and i love my job"

"Meredith!" Owen sighs "I cant go back to the trailer tonight, i just spent the last few hours with the McNeal family who were here for their follow up appointment and they kept going on and on about how they were so grateful they had Cristina as their doctor and i really just don't want to go be alone at home with a bottle of scotch! Because i WILL drink it! And i really don't want to become an alcoholic. So really, You'd be doing me a favor!"

Meredith smiles sadly and nods " I'll tell you what, why don't you pick up my kids from the day care and go spend the night at my place, it'll keep you distracted and relaxed, not to mention solve my problem! How does that sound?

"That sounds great!" Owen says with a relieved smile.

* * *

Owen is in the kitchen chopping artichoke hearts for the lasagna when a piercing scream distracts him and he cuts his finger.

"OUCH!" Owen winces.

"Oh my god! you scared the crap out of me!" Amelia says as if shes trying to keep her sockets from flying out.

"What are you doing here?" Owen asks with confusion writ large on his face.

"Excuse me! What am i doing here? I live here! "

Owen blushes at Amelia's retort and responds,

"Sorry! let me re phrase that ! I thought you had a craniotomy on the the MVC victim!"

"Ya he dint make it so i got off early..is your hand okay?"

"What? oh its just a superficial cut! Can you grab me a band aid though?"

"uh sure" Amelia opens the kitchen drawer on the bottom right and hands one over " There you go"

"thanks, and I'm sorry i dint mean to scare you" Owen says with an apologetic look.

" and i dint mean to get your finger cut so i guess we're even!" Amelia smirks.

they botch chuckle sheepishly.

Amelia then says "So im guessing you are the baby sitter for tonight?"

"Oh yeah, I figured i'd make a few extra bucks an hour to supplement my chief of surgery gig!"

Amelia laughs out aloud at that and Owen soon follows.

"I cant believe you said that"

"I cant believe you laughed at that!"

" i know! its just that in all my time here I have never seen you like this!"

"hunh?"

"you know! laid back ! relaxed! laughing and cooking in a t-shirt and jeans!"

"ya well.. hey wait a second! do you mean that i give out an unapproachable or scary vibe at work?!"

"No! No! God No! Its just that you are always so proper and courteous with everyone and i don't think i know anyone who doesn't respect you! so you have that kind of a 'Coach' vibe not a locker room gossiper vibe you know!"

"oh that's because I try to stay away from the gossip lines, our hospital is way worse than a high school locker room in that regard! I just don't really feel comfortable discussing whats none of my business!"

"oh and here i was thinking that i could bitch about Derek to someone!"

"well then Callie Torres is your best bet, that woman can chat!for hours on end! and even bailey for that matter! "

"Bailey? Seriously? "

"oh yeah, Don't go by her demeanor, she absolutely needs to know every sordid detail about every one"

"wow"

"yeah"

"hey you don't mind me commandeering the kitchen do you? I mean the kids are asleep and i could leave since you are here to keep your eye on them?"

"Oh no that's fine, I'm a house guest myself! what ARE you making by the way?" She asks curious, looking at the ton of freshly grated Parmesan.

"oh just some artichoke and cream chicken lasagnas, with Derek gone i just thought id make a few and pop them in the freezer for Meredith, i could make something else if you prefer?" Owen adds after noticing her surprised look.

"no no that sounds good and I'm actually starving if you wont mind me denting your perfect looking lasagna " She is impressed that the guy can actually cook and is not just stocking the shelves with canned soup to 'help out'.

" I don't mind at all, also it tastes even better than it looks, my ex wife loved it " Owen says with a sad smile

"Cristina right?"

"yeah"

"God i miss her!"

Owen makes an amused face and asks "I din't know you guys knew each other well!"

"Oh we dint, but the few cases we worked together, she was good, and a lot less annoying than the overgrown child who is currently running your cardio department!"

"Ah! you aren't getting along with Dr. Peirce either?"

"No! Not really, she's way to sensitive and grudgy to work with, not to mention all the Merediths half sister stuff doesn't help either!"

"I know, I am actively searching for a replacement but so far no luck as everyone worth shelling out extra bucks for is in the middle of their contracts."

"Well! good luck with that"

Bailey's cries interrupt their conversation and Owen asks Amelia if she could give him the bottle so that he could finish up cooking.

Owen had just taken out the lasagna from the oven and was removing his mitts when Amelia returned.

"hey you wanna eat here at the kitchen bar or should i set out the table?" he asked.

"oh here is fine, just lemme get something to drink, anything you prefer? she asks.

"at this hour after this day, the quantity of alcohol might matter more to me than the quality which is exactly why i was planning to avoid drinking altogether but please by all means you should go ahead !" Owen chuckles.

" Oh-kay! good to know! and i know the feeling more than i would like to so i was actually just offering a choice between juice or coffee or something! but hey we can break open a bottle grape juice or ginger ale and pretend that its alcohol! "

"haha! sorry! anything is fine!" owen responds blushing.

"ginger ale it is then!"

About two minutes later Owen hears the sound of Amelias amused laughter and sees her holding a bottle of wine and two of ginger ale.

"get this!" she starts, "this is a bottle of 2009 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet, I highly doubt Meredith even knows how to pronounce it! i can just imagine their dinner parties, Meredith getting wasted on tequila while Derek tries to explain the intricacies of fine wine" She laughs.

"well Meredith does appreciate a good bottle of wine once in a while but yeah that does happen more than either of them care to admit! Full disclosure though, the bottle of white burgundy you are holding right now was actually a gift from me! and it actually goes really well with the lasagna i made" he chuckles.

" no that's okay! in fact lets move to the patio shall we? The view goes really well with our fake wine i bet!" Amelia responds with more enthusiasm than necessary to cover her nervousness about holding the bottle.

"haha sure! "

After eating more lasagna than they probably should have, enveloped by the cool breeze in the clear starry night and in the company of an unexpected friend , Neither of them had realized that their casual small talk wasn't all that casual anymore. or small. What they did realize though was that they dint really care either.

"So you are the Chief Of Surgery and i know this is probably not under your jurisdiction so to say but have you ever worked with a Dr. Wyatt on a patient or even just heard of her by reputation?" Amelia asks hesitantly.

"oh, unhh, ya, ya actually i have worked with her. She is pretty good. Do you have a patient or someone who needs a consult?"

"umm Yes i do have a patient for her. and that'd be me." She says embarrassed.

"Oh" Owen puts down his glass to listen closer.

"ya im a recovering addict"

"what?" Owen asks alarmed thinking about all the alcohol kept in the house.

"hunh? oh no! not alcohol.. i mean i was an alcoholic at one point but iv been . My main issue has always been drugs..prescription drugs." she explains and Owens' eyebrows go even further up thinking about her access to the abundance of medication in the hospital.

"probably not a suitable conversation to have with your boss whom you've just met hunh? Amelia laughs nervously "I bet you are already thinking of ways to restrict my access to the medication cabinets!"

"No! I wasn't! well okay maybe for just a second" he responds embarrassed.

"Should I have mentioned that in my resume? Are you gonna fire me?" She asks only semi-jokingly.

"What? no! I cant fire anyone with issues beyond their control! its a disease like anything else, it just needs a stronger emotional support system than diabetes. Not to mention the fact that even if i did want to fire you, you do have a brother and sister-in -aw on the board who part own the hospital! So you have nothing to worry about except trying to take life one day at a time"

"Wow, not many bosses will see this revelation coming from a quasi-patient rather than a potential lawsuit" She says slightly confused.

"That's because when i said Dr. Wyatt is good I meant it. and not because we had a common patient but because i was the patient."

"Oh..So wait you are a recovering addict as well or..?"

"Close... P.T.S.D. ..all the danger to the others around you and none of the momentary fun!" Owen tries to laugh it off.

"From the shooting? Cuz i remember you were shot by that crazy gunman too right?"

"I wish it was that clean cut! No, my problems started years before that"

Amelia turns more towards him clearly intrigued and hinting him to go on.

"I served in war torn Iraq for about half a decade. I have seen a lot in those years. More death and destruction and horror than all the rest of my medical career combined. Some tours were better than the others. In some i saved more lives than the others. In some I lost more friends than the others. But the last tour i was in before being discharged..an RPG ambush wiped away every other person in my unit except myself. I was the only one standing. Sole survivor" he sighs thinking about football and Gekko and Dan and his patients and his last unit "...and i must have made more progress than i realized because instead of beating myself about it or drowning in scotch, i just shared the tales of my survivors guilt with someone i barely knew. That has never happened before. " he says at he looks at her with his head tilted to a side.

"Wow!"

"yeah"

"I am really sorry to hear that, i know what its like to see the people you love in front of your eyes. I am really sorry you had to go through that. " Amelia nods at him while thinking about her dad and her friend from Italy and Ryan- her fiance. and Her son.

Owen offers her his hand which she takes and they both silently look at the stars above not wanting to break this serene moment and missing and wishing for all their lost people.

They look at each other one last time before standing up.

"This was a really nice evening Dr. Shepherd" He smiles.

"It really was Dr. Hunt" She smiles.

**A.N : okay so i know this is a new pairing..maybe romantic maybe platonic havent really decided yet.. but what did you guys think? worth exploring further?**


End file.
